Emergency dispatching system

ABSTRACT

An emergency dispatching system which can reduce the occurrence of false reports, reliably send the first report to relatives or the like in an emergency, and automatically detect even the occurrence of an internal danger. Emergency dispatching system  10  comprises a communication device  12  for a monitored person, a sensor  14  for sensing the vital reaction or the like of the monitored person, contact address storage means  18  where a telephone number to contact in case of emergency is stored, message storage means  22  where a message to be sent in case of emergency is stored, safety judging means  16  for judging the safety of the monitored person based on the output of the sensor  14 , dispatch notifying means  28  for warning the monitored person of the emergency when it is assumed by the safety judging means  16  that an emergency has occurred, automatic dialing means  20  for generating a dialing signal and outputting it to the communication device  12  in case where a safety confirmation input is not detected within a certain time since warning, and message dispatching means  26  for dispatching the message to a communication device  38  at a contact address after establishment of a communication line between the communication device  12  and the communication device  38.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an emergency dispatching system, and,more particularly, to a system which can reliably notify a monitoringperson, such as a relative or a caretaker, of the occurrence of anunusual event when the unusual event has occurred on a person who livesalone, such as an elderly person, a sick person, a person who takes up ajob, leaving a family behind, or a single woman.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, elderly people who live alone are increasing due to theprogress of the aging society and nuclear families, and relatives shouldregularly phone or visit them to check the safety of the elderly people.Even in case of living with elderly people, particularly, sick elderlypeople and demential elderly people, caretakers should normally attendthem, and even when the caretakers go out for a short period of time,they should call outside to regularly check the safety.

With regard to persons who take up jobs, leaving their families behindor single persons, not as urgent as elderly people though, actuallyrelatives would worry about their safety and regularly phone them orrepeatedly visit them.

Dangers that may occur on those persons who live alone include aninternal type (self-brought type) (hereinafter called “internaldanger”), such as a spasm of sickness, heavy bone fracture caused byfalling or falling down unconscious in addition to an external type(hereinafter called “external danger”), such as a gas leakage or fire ina house or break-in of a burglar.

There are various home security systems to protect persons who livealone against dangers. While the specific contents of those systemsrange widely, they are fundamentally designed to detect the occurrenceof the dangers that face a monitored person by various sensors (burglarsensor, smoke sensor, temperature sensor, gas leak sensor, etc.) andnotify a predetermined security company or the like.

The introduction of those security systems can certainly relieverelatives of some burden of regularly phone calls or visits.

However, the conventional security systems are designed in such a waythat when various sensors detect the occurrence of an emergency,large-scale measures are taken, such as immediate activation of asprinkler or dispatching of a person in charge from a security company,so that a relatively high contract fee should be paid.

Further, the sensors always face a possibility of malfunction, so thatfalse reporting besides the activation of a sprinkler or dispatching ofa person from a security company would make mental and economicalburdens of a monitored person and relatives or the like unbearable.

Furthermore, although the conventional security systems are relativelygood at detecting an external danger, they hardly cope with thedetection of an internal danger but can merely recognize the depressionof a report button by a monitored person himself at best. Therefore,there arise such a problem that even when a monitored person falls intoa condition where it is difficult to even depress the report button, aneffective aiding measure cannot be taken against it immediately.

The invention has been devised to overcome the problems of theconventional systems and aims at realizing an emergency dispatchingsystem which is designed to be able to reduce the occurrence of falsereports as much as possible and reliably send the first report torelatives or the like in an emergency, and to automatically detect eventhe occurrence of an internal danger.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

To achieve the object, an emergency dispatching system according to theinvention comprises a communication device on a monitored person sidewhich is connectable to a communication line; at least one sensor forsensing a vital reaction of a monitored person or an external dangerthereof; contact address storage means where at least one telephonenumber to contact in case of emergency is stored; message storage meanswhere at least one message to be sent in case of emergency is stored;safety judging means for judging a safety of the monitored person basedon an output of the sensor; dispatch notifying means for warning themonitored person of an emergency when it is assumed by the safetyjudging means that the emergency has occurred; automatic dialing meansfor generating a dialing signal corresponding to a telephone number ofthe contact address and outputting the dialing signal to thecommunication device on the monitored person side, thereby establishinga call to a communication device at the contact address, in case where asafety confirmation input is not detected within a certain time sincewarning made by the dispatch notifying means; and message dispatchingmeans for sending an emergency message stored in the message storagemeans to the communication device at the contact address via thecommunication device on the monitored person side after establishment ofa communication line between the communication device on the monitoredperson side and the communication device at the contact address. The“telephone number” includes the number of a pager.

The “vital reaction” means an event which indicates that a monitoredperson is living a normal life, and the present system indirectlyrecognize the safety of the monitored person by detecting whether or notthere is the vital reaction of the monitored person, such as “washing aface”, “passing through a corridor”, “boiling water”, “using a toilet”or “taking a bath”.

Therefore, the internal danger of the monitored person can also beautomatically detected.

When the monitored person himself or a caretaker performs an inputoperation for safety confirmation after warning made by the dispatchnotifying means, emergency reporting to the communication device at thecontact address will not be made naturally.

That is, the emergency dispatching system is designed in such a way thateven when the safety judging means has assumed the occurrence of anemergency based on the outputs of individual sensors, emergencyreporting is not made immediately to the contact address, but themonitored person is warned and emergency dispatching is done unless aninput on safety confirmation by the monitored person is detected. It istherefore possible to prevent false reports.

After the safety judging means decides that “an emergency has occurred”,dialing is automatically made to a communication device registered as acontact address, so that a relative can reliably receive the firstreport once the number of the portable telephone or the like of therelative is registered as the contact address.

In other words, as long as a report is not made, the safety of themonitored person can be assumed, making it unnecessary to make regulartelephone calls to check the safety, like the past.

As the first report on the occurrence of an emergency is reliablydispatched to a relative or the like, this creates a room forself-helping protection and helping activities provided mainly by therelative or the like, making it possible to minimize the use of anexternal institute that demands a relatively high cost.

As the communication device on the monitored person side, a radiotelephone (a mobile communication terminal) such as a portabletelephone, PHS, may be used. In this case, the contact address storagemeans, the message storage means, the safety judging means, the dispatchnotifying means, the automatic dialing means and the message dispatchingmeans have only to be retained in a charger of the radio telephone, andthe sensor has only to be connected to the safety judging means by acable or wirelessly.

It is desirable to have such a structure that charging state detectingmeans for detecting whether or not the radio telephone is set in thecharger is provided, and the safety monitoring operation of the safetyjudging means starts at the same time the radio telephone is set in thecharger, and the safety monitoring operation is temporarily canceled atthe same time the radio telephone is detached from the charger.

As a result, a monitored person can use this emergency dispatchingsystem through ordinary actions of carrying out a portable telephonewhen going out and setting it in the charger after coming home, and apsychological oppression of being monitored is not imparted on themonitored person.

In this case, in case of forgetting carrying out a portable telephone,it is desirable to provide call detecting means for detecting aring-back tone or ringing vibration when a call is made to the radiotelephone, and to take such a structure that the safety monitoringoperation of the safety judging means is temporarily canceled in casewhere the ring-back tone or ringing vibration of the radio telephonecontinues for a predetermined time or longer.

Another emergency dispatching system according to the invention has aradio telephone on a monitored person side which is connectable to acommunication line, and at least one sensor for sensing a vital reactionof a monitored person or an external danger thereof, and ischaracterized in that provided on the radio telephone side are contactaddress storage means where at least one telephone number to contact incase of emergency is stored, message storage means where at least onemessage to be sent in case of emergency is stored; safety judging meansfor judging a safety of the monitored person based on an output of thesensor, dispatch notifying means for warning the monitored person of anemergency when it is assumed by the safety judging means that theemergency has occurred, automatic dialing means for generating a dialingsignal corresponding to a telephone number of the contact address,thereby making a call, in case where a safety confirmation input is notdetected within a certain time since warning made by the dispatchnotifying means, and message dispatching means for sending an emergencymessage stored in the message storage means to the communication deviceat the contact address after establishment of a communication line withthe communication device at the contact address, and that the sensor isconnected to the safety judging means by a cable or wirelessly.

As the essential structural elements of the emergency dispatching systemare retained in the radio telephone such as a portable telephone, it ispossible to detects a danger at the time of going out and ensureemergency dispatch.

In this case, it is desirable to equip the radio telephone withpresent-position information outputting means for identifying a presentposition of the radio telephone and outputting present positioninformation, and dispatch present position information from thepresent-position information outputting means to the communicationdevice at the contact address at the time of the emergency dispatchingby the message dispatching means. The “present-position informationoutputting means” mentioned here corresponds to, for example, a GPSreceiver.

As a result, a danger can be detected at the time of going out and atthe same time a monitoring person at the contact address can identifythe rough present position of the monitored person, thus ensuring promptaiding activities.

It is desirable to equip the emergency dispatching system with temporalcondition storage means in which a valid time zone for judging thesafety based on the output result from each sensor is set beforehand. Inthis case, the safety judging means can assume the occurrence of anemergency when an output indicating the vital reaction of the monitoredperson is not acquired from the sensor during the valid time zone.

A safe interval in the valid time zone can be set in the temporalcondition storage means. In this case, the safety judging means canassume the occurrence of an emergency in case where an output indicatinga vital reaction of the monitored person is not obtained from thesensors at all during the safe interval.

The structure may be designed in such a way that a plurality of messagesassociated with outputs of individual sensors are stored in the messagestorage means in advance, and a message corresponding to that sensoroutput which has become a basis for judgment of the occurrence of anemergency by the safety judging means is dispatched to the communicationdevice at the contact address via the message dispatching means.

It is desirable that each emergency dispatching system mentioned aboveshould be designed in such a way as to further comprise caller-numberidentifying means for identifying a telephone number of a caller when acall is made to the communication device on the monitored person side,and emergency-dispatch requesting right holder storage means where atelephone number of a person who has been authorized beforehand as anemergency-dispatch requesting right holder is stored, and that thesafety judging means judges whether or not the caller is theemergency-dispatch requesting right holder by comparing the telephonenumber stored in the emergency-dispatch requesting right holder storagemeans with a telephone number output from the caller-number identifyingmeans, it is assumed that an emergency has occurred and the monitoredperson is warned of that emergency via the dispatch notifying means whenthe caller is the emergency-dispatch requesting right holder and callingfrom the caller matches with a preset pattern, and the messagedispatching means dispatches an emergency message to the communicationdevice at the contact address when the safety confirmation input is notdetected within a certain time since warning made by the dispatchnotifying means.

As a result, when there is objectively a high probability of themonitored person being in danger, emergency dispatch can be made basedon the intention of a pre-authorized third person.

In Japan, the long-term care insurance system has started since April of2000, and payment for services provided by the long-term care insuranceis based on in-home nursing care.

It can be expected that the emergency dispatching system according tothe invention becomes an information infrastructure which contributes tothe stability of the basis of in-home nursing care services, such as thecapability of coping with not only an emergency state of a person whoreceives in-home nursing care but also a situation where, for example, acaretaker and a person who receives nursing care cannot move (strainedback or the like of the caretaker), and the capability of adequatelydispatching a traveling service vehicle in such a case.

Further, the properness, effectiveness and efficiency of the contentsand time allotting of nursing care services can be expected, resultingin the possible outlook of both “sufficient payment of long-term careinsurance” and “properness and reduction of the long-term care insurancefee”.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a first emergencydispatching system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the hardwarestructure of the first emergency dispatching-system;

FIG. 3 is a timetable showing an example of the setting of valid timezones of individual sensors;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of thefirst emergency dispatching system;

FIG. 5 is a timetable showing an example of the setting of valid timezones and safe intervals of individual sensors;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the operation ofthe first emergency dispatching system;

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram illustrating a second emergencydispatching system according to the invention;

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the hardwarestructure of the second emergency dispatching system; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the procedures of an emergencydispatching process of the second emergency dispatching system based onthe intention of a third person.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a first emergencydispatching system 10 according to the invention. This first emergencydispatching system 10 comprises a communication device 12 on a monitoredperson side, a sensor 14, safety judging means 16, contact addressstorage means 18, automatic dialing means 20, message storage means 22,message creating means 24, message dispatching means 26, dispatchnotifying means 28, safety confirmation input means 30, temporalcondition storage means 32, judgment criterion storage means 34 andclocking means 36.

The communication device 12 on the monitored person side is typically aradio telephone, such as a portable telephone or PHS which a person wholives alone as a monitored person uses daily, but may be an ordinaryfixed telephone or a personal computer or the like equipped with acommunication capability.

The sensor 14 serves to detect a vital reaction which becomes a basisfor determining the safety of a monitored person and various deviceswhich meet the purpose can be used.

For example, they are a water flow rate sensor attached to a faucet in awashroom, a limit switch mounted to the flush lever of a flush toilet, aphotosensor attached to a corridor where a person frequently walksaround, a pressure sensor placed in the mattress of a bed, and so forth.

Or, a simple switch may be used as a sensor. In this case, not only anexclusive push button switch, but a wall button for a room light, remotecontrol switches for TV (power switch and channel switches), a gasignition switch, etc. can be used as the sensor 14.

Sensors for detecting the occurrence of external dangers, such as gasleakage, fire and break-in, may be included. For example, they are aburglar sensor for detecting breaking of a window glass, a gas leaksensor, a fire sensor and so forth.

At least the valid time zone for each sensor 14 is set beforehand in thetemporal condition storage means 32.

The safety judging means 16 judges the safety of the monitored person byadequately referring to data set in the temporal condition storage means32 and checking the output status from the sensor 14 which is in thevalid time zone against a judgment criterion preset in the judgmentcriterion storage means 34.

Then, when there is any doubt about the safety of the monitored personbased on the output status from each sensor 14, the dispatch notifyingmeans 28 is activated and an operation to warn the monitored person isexecuted first. For example, sounding an alarm buzzer corresponds to thewarning operation. Or, when the monitored person has a hearing defect,flickering a lamp corresponds to it.

As the monitored person who notices the warning operation demonstrates asafety confirming operation via the safety confirmation input means 30,the warning operation is canceled. For example, an exclusive push buttonswitch corresponds to the safety confirmation input means 30.

In case where an input for the safety confirmation cannot be detectedwithin a certain time, by way of contrast, the safety judging means 16judges that an emergency has occurred, and sends the judgment result tothe automatic dialing means 20 and message dispatching means 26.

The automatic dialing means 20 reads out telephone numbers ofcommunication devices 38A to 38C at contact addresses registered inadvance in the contact address storage means 18, and generates dialingsignals corresponding to the telephone numbers. The dialing signal issent to the communication device 12 on the monitored person side, whichmakes a call to the communication devices 38A to 38C at the contactaddresses. Portable telephones or fixed telephones, pagers, facsimiles,personal computers equipped with a communication capability, and soforth, which relatives or the like use daily, correspond to thecommunication devices 38A to 38C at the contact addresses.

When a communication line is established between the communicationdevice 12 on the monitored person side and the communication device 38at the contact address, the message creating means 24 refers to amessage registered beforehand in the message storage means 22, andgenerates a message signal (voice data, character data, image data)corresponding to that message. The message signal is sent to the messagedispatching means 26, and is dispatched to the communication device 38at the contact address via the communication device 12 on the monitoredperson side, thus realizing emergency reporting to a relative or thelike.

In case where there are plural communication devices registered ascontact addresses in case of emergency, the automatic dialing operationand message dispatching operation are repeated plural times.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the hardware structure of the first emergencydispatching system 10, which has a portable telephone 40 as thecommunication device 12 on the monitored person side and a dispatchcontrol unit 42 which also serves as a charger for the portabletelephone 40.

Located in the dispatch control unit 42 are a power suply circuit 46, amemory circuit 48 including a RAM, ROM and flash memory, a clock circuit50, a vibration sensor 52, a radio processing circuit 54 and acommunication processing circuit 56 in addition to a control circuit 44comprised of a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

The dispatch control unit 42 has a microphone 58 for inputting voices,an operation panel 60 for entering various kinds of setting values, anLCD panel 62 for displaying the status of the unit, an alarm buzzer 64and a lamp 66 for showing the charge status.

The power supply circuit 46, the memory circuit 48, the clock circuit50, the vibration sensor 52, a radio processing circuit 54 thecommunication processing circuit 56, the microphone 58, the operationpanel 60, the LCD panel 62, the alarm buzzer 64 and the lamp 66 are eachconnected to the control circuit 44 via an unillustrated interfacecircuit.

A plurality of sensors 14 are provided outside the dispatch control unit42. Of those sensors 14, first to third sensors 14 a to 14 c areconnected to the control circuit 44 via a radio transmission unit 68 andthe radio processing circuit 54 or the like. A fourth sensor 14 d, onthe other hand, is connected to the control circuit 44 by a cable.

The portable telephone 40 has a pair of charge contacts 70 at itsbottom, and placing the bottom into a charge recess 42 a formed in thesurface of the casing of the dispatch control unit 42 effects charging abuilt-in secondary battery.

That is, a pair of power feeding contacts 72 corresponding to the chargecontacts 70 are exposed at the bottom of the recess 42 a, and areconnected to the power supply circuit 46. In the power supply circuit46, commercial AC power externally supplied via a power supply plug 74is converted to predetermined DC power and is charged in the secondarybattery in the portable telephone 40 via the power feeding contacts 72and the charge contacts 70.

Though not illustrated, power is supplied to individual sections in thedispatch control unit 42 via the power supply circuit 46.

A plurality of data input/output terminals 76 are further formed on thebottom of the portable telephone 40, and contacting the terminals 76with a plurality of data input/output terminals 78 exposed at the bottomof the recess 42 a can send a predetermined signal from the controlcircuit 44 to the portable telephone 40 via the communication processingcircuit 56.

Stored in the ROM of the memory circuit 48 is a control program forachieving various functions of the first emergency dispatching system10. As the control circuit 44 runs the control program, the firstemergency dispatching system 10 is equipped with a function, such as theaforementioned safety judging means 16, automatic dialing means 20,message creating means 24, message dispatching means 26 or clockingmeans 36.

The flash memory portion of the memory circuit 48 accomplishes functionsof the contact address storage means 18, message storage means 22,temporal condition storage means 32 and judgment criterion storage means34.

Further, the alarm buzzer 64 corresponds to the dispatch notifying means28 and a specific key on the operation panel 60 corresponds to thesafety confirmation input means 30.

The clock circuit 50 feeds temporal data to the first emergencydispatching system 10.

Here, a photosensor provided near the entrance of a living room is usedas the first sensor 14 a. A limit switch attached to the flush lever ofa toilet is used as the second sensor 14 b, a water flow rate sensorprovided at a faucet in a washroom is used as the third sensor 14 c, anda gas leak sensor located near a gas range in a kitchen is used as thefourth sensor 14 d.

The valid time zones of the individual sensors 14 a to 14 d are set asshown in the timetable in FIG. 3.

Specifically, the valid time zones of the first to third sensors 14 a to14 c are set to 6 AM to 8 AM. As a result, when the monitored personwalks into the living room or uses the toilet or the washroom in thistime zone, the first to third sensors 14 a to 14 c detect the event andsend signals indicating it to the control circuit 44 of the dispatchcontrol unit 42 wirelessly. In case where there is no outputs from thefirst to third sensors 14 a to 14 c in this time zone, on the otherhand, the safety judging means 16 assumes that an emergency has occurredand sounds the alarm buzzer 64.

The valid time zone of the fourth sensor 14 d is set to midnight to23:00. As a result, while the monitored person is in the house, thefourth sensor 14 d always monitors gas leakage. In case where the fourthsensor 14 d makes an output indicating the occurrence of gas leakage,the safety judging means 16 assumes that an emergency has occurred andsounds the alarm buzzer 64.

The settings of those valid time zones are input through the operationpanel 60 and are stored in the flash memory portion of the memorycircuit 48 via the control circuit 44.

An example of the actual operation of the first emergency dispatchingsystem 10 is described referring to the flowchart in FIG. 4.

First, the instant the user of the first emergency dispatching system 10i.e., the monitored person comes home, the monitored person places theportable telephone 40 he is using in the charge recess 42 a of thedispatch control unit 42. As a result, the DC power for charging issupplied to the secondary battery in the portable telephone 40 via thecontacts 72 and 70 from the power supply circuit 46. The power supplycircuit 46 sends a signal indicating the initiation of the charging tothe control circuit 44.

Upon reception of the input of charge-initiation signal, the safetyjudging means 16 immediately goes to a safety monitoring mode (safetymonitoring operation) (S10), and initiates analysis of the outputsignals of the sensors 14 a to 14 d (S14) by referring to the valid timezones of the sensors 14 a to 14 d (S12).

That is, when the output of one sensor 14 is in the valid time zone, thecontent of the output of this sensor 14 is evaluated based on thejudgment criterion set in the judgment criterion storage means 34 tocheck whether or not an emergency has occurred.

In case where no outputs indicating the vital reaction have beenobtained from the first to third sensors 14 a to 14 c at all during theperiod of 6 AM to 8 AM (S16), for example, it is assumed that themonitored person becomes unable to move for some reasons, and dispatchnotification to sound the alarm buzzer 64 is activated (S18).

At this time, when the monitored person has simply slept away and noemergency has occurred particularly, the monitored person presses asafety confirming switch on the operation panel 60 himself to carry outa safety confirming input operation. By detecting this safety confirminginput (S20), the safety judging means 16 cancels the assumption that anemergency has occurred and cancels the dispatch notification to stop thealarm buzzer 64 (S22) and resumes the safety monitoring operation.

In case where the monitored person has a spasm and cannot sit up in thebed, by way of contrast, the alarm buzzer 64 keeps sounding. Then, whenno safety confirming input cannot be detected after a predetermined time(e.g., 5 minutes) has passed, the safety judging means 16 judges “theoccurrence of an emergency” and instructs the automatic dialing means 20to perform an automatic dialing process.

The instructed automatic dialing means 20 reads the telephone number ofa contact address set in the contact address storage means 18 (e.g., thenumber of a portable telephone 82 owned by a first son 80 of themonitored person), generates a dialing signal corresponding to thatnumber and sends the signal to the portable telephone 40 of themonitored person via the communication processing circuit 56 and theterminals 78 and 76 (S24). As a result, the portable telephone 40 makesa call to the portable telephone 82 of the first son 80, and acommunication path is established between both portable telephones 40and 82 via a public line network 84.

In parallel to the calling operation, the message creating means 24reads out a message content preset in the message storage means 22 andgenerates a message signal corresponding to that message content and thetype of the communication device at the contact address (as thecommunication device at the contact address is the portable telephone 82in this case, a voice message signal is synthesized).

When the communication line between the portable telephones 40 and 82 isestablished, the message signal is sent to the portable telephone 40 viathe communication processing circuit 56 and the terminals 78 and 76, andis dispatched to the portable phone 82 of the first son 80 (S26).

The message may be an ordinary one, such as “Something abnormal mayhappen to the subject. Please check.”, but a content which matches withthe sensor output based on which the judgment of the occurrence of anemergency has been made may be adopted.

In case where it is judged that an emergency has occurred due to theoutput indicating gas leakage from the fourth sensor 14 d, for example,a voice message “There may be gas leakage in the house of the subject.Please check.” is sent.

The message dispatching means 26 disconnects the line after repeatingthe voice message several times.

The person who received the message (first son 80) takes a measureaccording to the content of the message. First, he may dial the numberof the portable telephone 40 of the monitored person to check if it is afalse report.

In case where the monitored person does not answer after calling about adozen times, it seems to be very likely that an emergency has occurredand he hurries to the house of the monitored person himself or contactsa relative or someone in the company (in case he takes up a job, leavingthe family behind) living nearby and asks the person to go and see thesituation.

At the same time, in case where there is a pre-contracted securitycompany, hospital or the like, he may be able to contact it to hurry tothe actual spot.

In case where the content of the message indicates gas leakage, it isdesirable to immediately report to the fire station.

In case where there are plural telephone numbers registered as contactaddresses in case of emergency, the automatic dialing means 20 and themessage dispatching means 26 repeat the automatic dialing operation andmessage dispatching operation plural times to complete messagedispatching to every contact address. At this time, when the portabletelephone or fixed telephone of a contact address is busy, automaticdialing is repeated many times at given intervals.

A pre-contracted security company, hospital or the like may beregistered as one of the contact addresses.

The communication device at the contact address may be a personalcomputer 86 equipped with a communication capability or a facsimile 88besides the portable telephone 82 or fixed telephone. In this case, themessage creating means 24 creates a message signal matching thecharacteristic of that communication device (character data or imagedata).

Further, the communication device on the monitored person side maylikewise be a personal computer 90 equipped with a communicationcapability besides the portable telephone 40 or fixed telephone, so thata message can be dispatched through the personal computer 90. Here, thecommunication processing circuit 56 of the dispatch control unit 42 isconnected to the serial port or parallel port of the personal computer90 via a communication cable.

As the valid time zone is set for each of the sensors 14 a to 14 d inthe first emergency dispatching system 10, the percentage of recognizingthe occurrence of an emergency by the safety judging means 16 isimproved and erroneous judgment can be prevented effectively.

In the night time zone (midnight to 6 AM), for example, persons arenormally asleep so that even if there is no output indicating the vitalreaction from the first to third sensors 14 a to 14 c at all, suchshould not be assumed to be “the occurrence of an emergency”.

In case where gas leakage has occurred, by way of contrast, it isnecessary to take an emergency measure even at night without delay, sothat the valid time zone for the fourth sensor 14 d which detects gasleakage should not be limited.

When “the occurrence of an emergency” is assumed by the safety judgingmeans 16, emergency reporting is not done immediately, but the dispatchnotifying means 28 warns the monitored person first, thus making itpossible to effectively prevent relatives from unnecessarily worrying byfalse reports.

With the use of the first emergency dispatching system 10, if there isno report even after the valid time zone passes, relatives are relieved,knowing that the monitored person is safe today, saving the trouble ofregularly making a phone call.

The structure may be designed in such a way that after the valid timezone passes without a trouble, the message creating means 24 creates amessage positively indicating the safety (e.g., “Safely arrived at theoffice today.”) which is dispatched to the communication device 38 atthe contact address by the cooperation of the automatic dialing means 20and the message dispatching means 26.

In case of elderly people who live alone or sick persons, they staylonger in their homes, so that as shown in FIG. 5, it is desirable toset wide valid time zones for the first to third sensors 14 a to 14 cand set the safe intervals in the temporal condition storage means 32.

In case where the safe interval is set to “1 hour”, for example, whenany of the first to third sensors 14 a to 14 c detects the vitalreaction of the monitored person (S30), the clocking means 36 startscounting down for one hour (S31), as shown in FIG. 6. When any of thefirst to third sensors 14 a to 14 c detects the vital reaction of themonitored person again in one hour (S32), the count-down is reset thenand countdown for one hour starts from the beginning.

When the next vital reaction of the monitored person is not detected inthis one hour (S34), “the occurrence of an emergency” is assumed and thesafety judging means 16 activates the dispatch notifying operation(S36).

As the safe interval is set in addition to the valid time zone this way,even in case where a relatively wide valid time zone is set, it ispossible to regularly check the safety of the monitored person.

The first to fourth sensors 14 a to 14 d are merely an example, and agreater number of sensors may be arranged to be able to more finelydetect the occurrence of an emergency.

For example, the structure may be designed in such a way that a vitalsensor unit which integrates a radio transmitter with vital sensors,such as a blood pressure sensor, a pulse sensor and a body temperaturesensor, is attached to the body of the monitored person so that vitaldata of the person is regularly wirelessly transmitted to the controlcircuit 44.

In this case, when the value of the transmitted vital data is off thesafe range preset in the judgment criterion storage means 34, the safetyjudging means 16 assumes the occurrence of an emergency and activatesthe dispatch notifying operation. This case is therefore particularlysuitable for remote monitoring of sick persons or elderly people.

Or, a water level sensor may be attached to the bathtub so that when thewater level equal to or higher than a predetermined level is detected,it can be assumed that an elderly person or the like who is a monitoredperson has sunk in the bathtub, which is regarded as “the occurrence ofan emergency”.

The sensors should not necessarily be provided inside a house but may belocated outside, such as a yard, depending on the action pattern of themonitored person.

With regard to the setting of the temporal conditions for the sensors,finer judgment criteria in consideration of the purposes of providingthe sensors can be set in the judgment criterion storage means 34,instead of making a simple judgment such that it is “safe” when there isan output indicating a vital reaction within the valid time zone.

At the time of judging an output from the pressure sensor placed in themattress of a bed, for example, it can be assumed to be “safe” when acertain or higher pressure is detected between 10 PM and 6 AM, whereaswhen the pressurized state continues even after 6 AM, it can be assumedthat the monitored person cannot rise for some reasons, such as beingsick, and an “emergency has occurred”.

Even with the same type of data output from the same sensor, as apparentfrom the above, changing the judgment criterion according to the timezone can ensure accurate judgment that matches the life pattern of themonitored person.

Or, in case where a “pressed state” indicating the fact that a personhas sat is detected based on the output of the pressure sensor providedat the seat of the toilet, the clocking means 36 starts counting downand when the “pressed state” is not released even after a preset time(e.g., 30 minutes) has passed, the safety judging means 16 can assumesomething abnormal has occurred during the use of the toilet andactivate the dispatch notifying operation.

Further, more precise judgment is possible by previously setting theassociation of the output of each sensor with those of the other sensorsin the judgment criterion storage means 34, not singularly evaluatingthe output of each sensor.

In case where the “pressed state” indicating the fact that a person hassat is detected based on the output of the pressure sensor provided atthe seat of the toilet and an output indicating the turning of the flushlever is not acquired from the limit switch attached to the flush levereven if an output indicating the release of the “pressed state” isdetected within a preset time (e.g., 30 minutes), for example, it ispossible to assume that the person has collapsed from the seat due tosome reasons during the use of the toilet and activate the dispatchnotifying operation.

Further, the voice input microphone 58 can be used as a sensor without aset valid time zone. In case where the monitored person intermittentlyutters the word “Help!” toward the microphone 58 three times in thenight, for example, the safety judging means 16 judges that an emergencyhas occurred and activates the dispatch notification. In case of voiceson the TV or mischief of visitors, a safety confirmation input should bemade via the safety confirmation input means 30 to stop emergencydispatch.

Although the setting of the valid time-zone and other temporalconditions or the setting that is associated with the cooperation of theindividual sensors can be input through the keys on the operation panel60 provided on the dispatch control unit 42, individual setting itemsmay have been input to the personal computer 90 using anapplication-specific program and may be transferred to the flash memoryportion of the memory circuit 48. Or, the setting values can be inputthrough dial buttons of the portable telephone 40 and transferred to theflash memory portion of the memory circuit 48 via the terminals 76 and78.

Although the foregoing description illustrates an example where themessage creating means 24 synthesizes voice data corresponding to amessage pattern prepared beforehand in the message storage means 22, themonitored person may memorize a message in his own voice in messagestorage means 22 and dispatch the voice message to the contact addresswhen an emergency occurs. In this case, the voice message is recorded inthe memory circuit 48 through the microphone 58 incorporated in thedispatch control unit 42.

According to the first emergency dispatching system 10, the instant theportable telephone 40 is set in the charge recess 42 a, the supply ofthe charging power from the power supply circuit 46 starts, and as thisfact is output to the control circuit 44, the safety monitoring mode inthe safety judging means 16 starts. The instant the portable telephone40 is detached from the charge recess 42 a to stop charging, the safetymonitoring mode in the safety judging means 16 is temporarily canceled.

That is, the power supply circuit 46 serves as charge detecting means.Of course, an exclusive sensor which detects the setting of the portabletelephone 40 in the recess 42 a may be provided.

If the mode goes to the safety monitoring mode as the portable telephone40 is set in the charge recess 42 a and temporarily leaves the safetymonitoring mode by detaching the former, the monitored person can startusing the first emergency dispatching system 10 the instant he goes homeand can automatically stop its usage when going out, without being muchconscious of the presence of this system.

To prevent carelessly forgetting setting the portable telephone 40 inthe dispatch control unit 42 as a charger at the time of going home, itis effective to attach a pair of some kinds of sensors to the portabletelephone 40 and the dispatch control unit 42 and generate an alarmsound from the alarm buzzer 64 of the dispatch control unit 42 when bothcome close to a given range, thereby prompting the attachment.

It is possible to carelessly forget the portable telephone 40 home atthe time of going out. Even in this case, as the valid time zone of eachsensor 14 is set in the above-described manner, a false report may notbe dispatched immediately, but it is desirable to take some measure tocancel the safety monitoring mode from outside.

For example, possible setting is such that in case where a call is madeto one's own portable telephone 40 left home from a public telephone orthe like and the calling tone which is input through the microphone 58continues 30 times or more, the safety monitoring mode is temporarilycanceled.

Or, when the portable telephone 40 is set to vibrate to indicate anincoming call, the vibration sensor 52 may detect it and when thecalling vibration continues for two minutes or longer, the safetymonitoring mode may be temporarily canceled automatically.

To prevent the portable telephone 40 from being left home when goingout, a non-contact type IC chip may be incorporated in the portabletelephone 40 and bringing the portable telephone 40 over a receiversited near the entrance hall may complete locking the front door.

Of course, an exclusive switch may be provided on the dispatch controlunit 42 so that the ON/OFF of the safety monitoring mode isintentionally controlled.

Instead of achieving the functions of the safety judging means 16, theautomatic dialing means 20, the message creating means 24, the messagedispatching means 26 and the clocking means 36 as the control circuit 44runs the control program stored in the memory circuit 48, the emergencydispatching system can also be constructed by so-called wired logic ofwiring exclusive integrated circuits corresponding to the functions.

Instead of constructing the contact address storage means 18, themessage storage means 22, the temporal condition storage means 32 andthe judgment criterion storage means 34 by semiconductor memories, suchas flash memories, they may be constructed by other storage media (e.g.,a hard disk).

Although the dispatch control unit 42 is constructed by incorporatingthe control circuit 44, the memory circuit 48 and so forth in thecharger of the portable telephone 40 and the safety judging means 16,the automatic dialing means 20, the message creating means 24, themessage dispatching means 26 and the clocking means 36 are realized asthe control circuit 44 executes the control program stored in the memorycircuit 48 (ROM) in the above-described embodiment, the invention is notlimited to this type.

That is, the emergency dispatching system can be realized byincorporating the control circuit 44, the memory circuit 48 and so forthin the portable telephone as the communication device 12 on themonitored person side.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram illustrating one example of thefunctional structure in that case. This second emergency dispatchingsystem 91 has safety judging means 16, contact address storage means 18,dialing-signal generating means 106, message storage means 22, messagecreating means 24, dispatch notifying means 28, safety confirmationinput means 30, temporal condition storage means 32, judgment criterionstorage means 34, clocking means 36, radio communication processingmeans 93, caller number-identifying means 94, emergency-dispatchrequesting right holder storage means 95 and present-positionidentifying means 96 in the casing of a portable telephone 92 which is acommunication device on a monitored person side.

A sensor 14 is arranged outside the casing. For example, a pedometer themonitored person wears or a pulse meter or the like built in a wristwatch corresponds to the sensor 14. The outputs of those sensors 14 areinput to the safety judging means 16 in the portable telephone 92wirelessly or by a cable.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the hardware structure of the emergencydispatching system 91. Located in the portable telephone 92 is a controlcircuit 44 comprised of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and a memorycircuit 48 including a RAM and ROM or flash memory, a clock circuit 50,a radio processing circuit 54, push buttons 97, an LCD display 98, aspeaker 99, a microphone 100 a vibrator 101, a radio interface 102 and aGPS receiver 103 are each connected to the control circuit 44 via anunillustrated interface circuit.

A sensor 14 e located outside the portable telephone 92 is connected tothe control circuit 44 via the radio transmission unit 68 and the radioprocessing circuit 54 or the like.

Stored in the ROM of the memory circuit 48 is a control program forachieving various functions of the emergency dispatching system. As thecontrol circuit 44 runs the control program, the second emergencydispatching system 91 is equipped with various functions, such as theaforementioned safety judging means 16, dialing-signal generating means106, message creating means 24, clocking means 36, radio communicationprocessing means 93, caller number identifying means 94 andpresent-position identifying means 96.

The flash memory portion of the memory circuit 48 accomplishes functionsof the contact address storage means 18, message storage means 22,temporal condition storage means 32, judgment criterion storage means 34and emergency-dispatch requesting right holder storage means 95.

The speaker 99 and the vibrator 101 correspond to the dispatch notifyingmeans 28, and a specific button in the push buttons 97 corresponds tothe safety confirmation input means 30.

The clock circuit 50 supplies temporal data to the emergency dispatchingsystem 91 and the GPS receiver 103 supplies present position data.

In the case of the emergency dispatching system 91, because mostfunctions are provided in the portable telephone 92, it is possible tokeep monitoring the safety even while the monitored person is out andautomatically make dispatching to a predetermined contact address incase of emergency.

At the time the monitored person does a dangerous outdoor activity, suchas mount climbing, fishing in a sea or sailing, or the monitored personwho has a chronic illness, such as epilepsy goes out, the monitoredperson wears a pedometer or a wrist watch which the sensor 14 e is builtin, and carries the portable telephone 92 around.

The pedometer normally outputs a step number count signal to the controlcircuit 44 of the portable telephone 92 via the radio transmission unit68 and the radio processing circuit 54. Or, a pulse sensor or a bodytemperature sensor built in the belt portion of a wrist watch normallyoutputs a signal corresponding to the pulses or the body temperature tothe control circuit 44 via the radio transmission unit 68 and the radioprocessing circuit 54.

The safety judging means 16 refers to the setting conditions in thetemporal condition storage means 32 and the set criterion in thejudgment criterion storage means 34 and analyzes the output signal ofthe sensor 14 e to judge the safety of the monitored person.

In case where the output of the pulse sensor significantly falls belowthe set value or there is an output indicating zero pulse, for example,the safety judging means 16 assumes the occurrence of an emergency andperforms dispatch notification through a calling tone or callingvibration of the portable telephone 92. In this case, it is desirable topreset an exclusive melody or a vibration pattern for dispatchnotification in order to distinguish it from a normal calling tone orcalling vibration.

In case where the monitored person temporarily takes off the wrist watchfor the personal reasons of the monitored person, dispatch notificationcan be canceled by making a safety confirming input by pressing apredetermined push button of the portable telephone 92 within apredetermined time.

In case where a critical problem, such as the spasm of chronic illness,actually occurs on the monitored person side, and a safety confirminginput cannot be made within the time, the safety judging means 16 judgesthat an emergency has occurred, the message creating means 24 creates amessage in case of emergency, the dialing-signal generating means 106generates a dialing signal corresponding to the telephone number of thecontact address and executes automatic dialing and message dispatchingto communication devices 38A and 38B at contact addresses via the radiocommunication processing means 93. That is, in the second emergencydispatching system 91, the cooperation of the dialing-signal generatingmeans 106 with the radio communication processing means 93 realizes theautomatic dialing means, the cooperation of the message creating means24 with the radio communication processing means 93 realizes the messagedispatching means.

The present-position identifying means 96 sends data indicating thepresent position of the monitored person to a communication device 38Cat a contact address, and position display means 104 connected to thecommunication device 38C displays the present position of the monitoredperson.

The second emergency dispatching system 91 is expected to mainly detectthe occurrence of an emergency outside. In this case, even if the firstreport indicating the occurrence of an emergency is given to a relativeor the like, nothing can be done unless the location of the monitoredperson is known. It is therefore very important to dispatch presentposition information together with the occurrence of an emergency.

Specifically, the GPS receiver 103 built in the portable telephone 92receives a signal from a satellite 105, and the control circuit 44processes the signal according to an exclusive program to find thepresent position, inserts the present position data in a communicationsignal of the portable telephone 92 and sends it to the communicationdevice 38C at the contact address.

A personal computer 86 which is equipped with a communication capabilityand is placed in a security company, a police station, a fire station orthe like corresponds to the communication device 38C at the contactaddress, and numerals that indicate the latitude and longitude of theplace of the occurrence of the emergency are displayed together with atext message indicating the occurrence of an emergency on the screen ofthe personal computer 86. Or, interlocked with an application-specificprogram, the location of the occurrence of the emergency can bedisplayed on the map of the screen.

The use of a PHS system (Personal Handy Phone System) as the portabletelephone of the monitored person can allow the present position of themonitored person to be caught by using a positional information servicewhich a communication carrier generally provides, without incorporatingthe present-position identifying means or GPS receiver in the portabletelephone.

Although an example of incorporating a sensor for detecting the safetyof the monitored person in a pedometer or a wrist watch which is locatedoutside the portable telephone 92 is illustrated above, the sensor canof course be built in the portable telephone 92 itself.

The simplest way possible is to use the microphone. 100 of the portabletelephone 92 as a voice input sensor. As a result, when the monitoredperson who carries the portable telephone 92 cries out “Help! Help!Help!”, for example, the microphone 100 picks up the voice and outputsit to the safety judging means 16. When “the occurrence of an emergency”is assumed by the safety judging means 16, an alarm sound (alarmvibration) is generated as dispatch notification and when there is nosafety confirming input within a given time (desirably about severalseconds), the occurrence of an emergency and present positioninformation can spontaneously and automatically be reported to thefamily and a police. This can be said to be helpful to a woman against astalker.

Although the microphone 100 may of course pick up voices on the TV ormovie, resulting in possible assumption of the occurrence of anemergency, dispatch notification is done beforehand to give a chance tomake a safety confirming input, so that the generation of false reportscan be suppressed to a certain degree. Further, other voices than thoseof the monitored person can be eliminated by performing a simple voicerecognition process or voiceprint discrimination process on the portabletelephone 92.

As the second emergency dispatching system 91 is equipped with thecaller number identifying means 94 and the emergency-dispatch requestingright holder storage means 95, only a specific person concerned whichhas been set in advance can request emergency dispatching to the system91 from the outside.

That is, although each of the emergency dispatching processes that havebeen discussed so far determines whether emergency dispatching isnecessary or not on the system side in accordance with the outputs ofthe sensors, it becomes necessary for an external person concerned to beable to control emergency dispatching in a certain case.

One case may be that, for example, a worker who is a monitored personand takes up a job, leaving a family behind, does not appear at theoffice even by nearly noon and emergency dispatching is not made to theportable telephone of a supervisor who is registered as one contactaddress. Normally “no emergency dispatching made by the monitoredperson” means “well”. In this case, however, the objective event, “theworker has not appeared at the office after the office hour”, thatimplies an emergency has actually occurred and there is a possibilitythat the system has overlooked the emergency due to malfunction of thesensors or mis-setting, so that some measures should be taken promptly.

In the second emergency dispatching system 91, therefore, the telephonenumber of a person of a certain range who is trusted by the monitoredperson is registered in the emergency-dispatch requesting right holderstorage means 95 of the portable telephone 92 and when a predeterminedcondition is met, emergency dispatching can be carried out by theintention of the third person.

The following describes procedures of emergency dispatching by theintention of a third person according to the flowchart in FIG. 9.

First, in the previous case where the number of the portable telephoneof a supervisor as an emergency-dispatch requesting right holder is setin the portable telephone 92 of a worker (subordinate) as a monitoredperson, the supervisor who becomes suspicious about the absence of thesubordinate inputs the number of the portable telephone of thesubordinate through his own portable telephone.

As a result, the caller number identifying means 94 in the portabletelephone 92 of the subordinate identifies the number of the portabletelephone of the caller (supervisor) via the radio communicationprocessing means 93 and sends it to the safety judging means 16. Thiscaller number information is automatically transmitted to the portabletelephone 92 from an exchange included in a public line network througha caller-number reporting service which is generally provided by acommunication carrier, such as NTT.

The safety judging means 16 refers to the emergency-dispatch requestingright holder storage means 95 to judge whether or not the caller numbermatches with the number registered as an emergency-dispatch requestingright holder (S50). When there is a match, it is discriminated as a callfrom a person who has the emergency-dispatch requesting right andcounting the number of calling signals to be sent from the radiocommunication processing means 93 starts (S52).

Thereafter, when the line to the portable telephone 92 of the monitoredperson is immediately established to form a communication path (S54), itmeans that the monitored person is well and the supervisor has only todirectly ask the subordinate about the situation through the ordinarytelephone communication.

In case where the line is not connected even after the calling tone isgenerated a given number of times, on the other hand, the occurrence ofan emergency is really expected (S56), so that the safety judging means16 generates from the speaker voices of a melody different from that ofthe calling tone so far, activating dispatch notification (S58).

If the monitored person (subordinate) is surprised by the dispatchnotification sound and depresses the communication button, the safetyjudging means 16 judges that a safety confirming input has been made(S60) and cancels the dispatch notification (S62).

In this case too, the supervisor has only to ask the subordinate aboutthe situation through the ordinary telephone communication.

In case where the safety confirming operation cannot be detected evenafter a given time (several tens of seconds to 1 minute) since dispatchnotification, by way of contrast, it is judged that the probability ofthe occurrence of an emergency is very high and a message such that “Asan emergency is likely to have occurred, please urgently report to aperson concerned.” is returned to the emergency-dispatch requestingright holder (supervisor). The line is then disconnected.

Thereafter, automatic dialing to the communication devices 38A and 38Bat the contact addresses registered in the contact address storage means18 is executed in accordance with the same steps as mentioned above(S64) and a message indicating the occurrence of an emergency istransmitted (S66). At the same time, the present-position identifyingmeans 96 and the radio communication processing means 93 send theposition information of the portable telephone 92 to the communicationdevice 38C.

Because the telephone number of the trusted emergency-dispatchrequesting right holder is registered beforehand in the portabletelephone 92 of the monitored person and the caller number identifyingmeans 94 identifies the telephone number of the caller every time a callis made, and only when both match with each other, the emergencydispatching operation is activated, it is possible to prevent randomemergency dispatching from being activated by mischief or harassment.

To distinguish the ordinary call from the emergency-dispatch requestingright holder (a call intended to talk by phone), it is of coursenecessary to set the criterion for determining the “emergency” in thejudgment criterion storage means 34. For example, a condition (callingpattern) which is generally unlikely to occur, such as a call from theemergency-dispatch requesting right holder and the calling tone beinggenerated 50 times continuously, should be set. Or, setting may be madein such a way that “the occurrence of an emergency” is assumed when thecall is from the emergency-dispatch requesting right holder, the line isdisconnected once after the calling tone is generated 20 times, and thenthe calling tone is generated 20 times again.

Even in this case, emergency dispatching is not carried out immediatelyafter calling is made a certain number of times, but dispatchnotification is preformed to give the monitored person a chance to makea safety confirming input, thereby preventing emergency dispatching frombeing activated when the monitored person pretends to be out.

The emergency-dispatch requesting system based on the intention of athird person can of course be incorporated in the first emergencydispatching system 10. That is, the structure is designed in such a waythat an emergency-dispatch requesting right holder is registered in thememory circuit 48 in the dispatch control unit 42 and when the portabletelephone 40 receives a call, the caller number is output to the controlcircuit 44 via the data input/output terminals 76 and 78 and thecommunication processing circuit 56.

When a call from the emergency-dispatch requesting right holder isidentified, the calling tone should be picked up by the microphone 58and the number of calls should be counted or the calling vibrationshould be picked up by the vibration sensor 52 and the number of callsshould be counted. Dispatch notification is realized through the alarmbuzzer 64.

Industrial Applicability

With the use of the emergency dispatching system according to theinvention, as described above, even in case where the safety judgingmeans identifies the occurrence of an emergency based on the outputs ofvarious sensors, emergency dispatching is not made immediately, but amonitored person is warned by the dispatch notifying means to give themonitored person a chance to inhibit emergency dispatching. This canprevent the occurrence of false reports.

When it is judged that an emergency has occurred, an emergency reportingmessage is automatically dispatched to the communication device at apreset contact address, so that if the number of the portable telephoneor the like which a relative or a caretaker carries is registered as thecontact address, the first report on the occurrence of an emergency canreliably be acquired, thus ensuring later self-helping protection andhelping activities.

As it is designed such that various sensors detect the vital reactionsof the monitored person, an internal danger of the monitored person canbe detected reliably.

What is claimed is:
 1. An emergency dispatching system characterized bycomprising: a communication device on a monitored person side which isconnectable to a communication line; at least one sensor for sensing avital reaction of a monitored person or an external, danger thereof;contact address storage means where at least one telephone number tocontact in case of emergency is stored; message storage means at leastone message to be sent in case of emergency is stored; safety judgingmeans for judging a safety of said monitored person based on an outputof said sensor; dispatch notifying means for warning said monitoredperson of an emergency when it is assumed by said safety judging meansthat said emergency has occurred; automatic dialing means for generatinga dialing signal corresponding to a telephone number of the contactaddress and outputting said dialing signal to said communication deviceon said monitored person side, thereby establishing a call to acommunication device at said contact address, in case where a safetyconfirmation input is not detected within a certain time since warningmade by said dispatch notifying means; and message dispatching means forsending an emergency message stored in said message storage means tosaid communication device at said contact address via said communicationdevice on said monitored person side after establishment of acommunication line between said communication device on said monitoredperson side and said communication device at said contact address, andin that said communication device on said monitored person side is aradio telephone, said contact address storage means, said messagestorage means, said safety judging means, said dispatch notifying means,said automatic dialing means and said message dispatching means areretained in a charger of said radio telephone, and said sensor isconnected to said safety judging means by a cable or wirelessly.
 2. Theemergency dispatching system according to claim 1, characterized bycomprising charging state detecting means for detecting whether or notsaid radio telephone is set in said charger, and in that a safetymonitoring operation of said safety judging means starts at a same timesaid radio telephone is set in said charger, and said safety monitoringoperation is temporarily canceled at a same time said radio telephone isdetached from said charger.
 3. The emergency dispatching systemaccording to claim 2, characterized by comprising call detecting meansfor detecting a ring-back tone or ringing vibration when a call is madeto said radio telephone, and in that said safety monitoring operation ofsaid safety judging means is temporarily canceled in case where saidring-tone or ring vibration of said radio telephone continues for apredetermined time or longer.
 4. The emergency dispatching systemaccording to claim 3, characterized by comprising temporal conditionstorage means in which a valid time zone for said sensor is setbeforehand, and in that said safety judging means judges a safety ofsaid monitored person based on an output result from said sensoracquired during said valid time zone.
 5. The emergency dispatchingsystem according to claim 4, characterized in that a safe interval insaid valid time zone is set in said temporal condition storage means,and said safety judging means assumes an occurrence of an emergency incase where an output indicating a vital reaction of said monitoredperson is not obtained during said safe interval.
 6. The emergencydispatching system according to claim 2, characterized by comprisingtemporal condition storage means in which a valid time zone for saidsensor is set beforehand, and in that said safety judging means judges asafety of said monitored person based on an output result from saidsensor acquired during said valid time zone.
 7. The emergencydispatching system according to claim 6, characterized in that a safeinterval in said valid time zone is set in said temporal conditionstorage means, and said safety judging means assumes an occurrence of anemergency in case where an output indicating a vital reaction of saidmonitored person is not obtained during said safe interval.
 8. Theemergency dispatching system according to claim 1, characterized bycomprising temporal condition storage means in which a valid time zonefor said sensor is set beforehand, and in that said safety judging meansjudges a safety of said monitored person based on an output result fromsaid sensor acquired during said valid time zone.
 9. The emergencydispatching system according to claim 8, characterized in that a safeinterval in said valid time zone is set in said temporal conditionstorage means, and said safety judging means assumes an occurrence of anemergency in case where an output indicating a vital reaction of saidmonitored person is not obtained during said safe interval.
 10. Theemergency dispatching system according to claim 8, characterized in thata plurality of messages associated with outputs of individual sensorsare stored in said message storage means in advance, and said messagedispatching means dispatches a message corresponding to that sensoroutput which has become a basis for judgment of an occurrence of anemergency by said safety judging means to said communication device atsaid contact address.
 11. The emergency dispatching system according toclaim 10, characterized by comprising: caller-number identifying meansfor identifying a telephone number of a caller when a call is made tosaid communication device on said monitored person side; andemergency-dispatch requesting right holder storage means where atelephone number of a person who has been authorized beforehand as anemergency-dispatch requesting right bolder is stored, and in that saidsafety judging means judges whether or not said caller is saidemergency-dispatch requesting right holder by comparing said telephonenumber stored in said emergency-dispatch requesting right holder storagemeans with a telephone number output from said caller-number identifyingmeans, when said caller is said emergency-dispatch requesting rightholder and calling from said caller matches with a preset pattern, it isassumed that an emergency has occurred and said monitored person iswarned of that emergency via said dispatch notifying means, and whensaid safety confirmation input is not detected within a certain timesince warning made by said dispatch notifying means, said messagedispatching means dispatches an emergency message to said communicationdevice at said contact address.
 12. The emergency dispatching systemaccording to claim 8, characterized by comprising: caller-numberidentifying means for identifying a telephone number of a caller when acall is made to said communication device on said monitored person side;and emergency-dispatch requesting right holder storage means where atelephone number of a person who has been authorized beforehand as anemergency-dispatch requesting right holder is stored, and in that saidsafety judging means judges whether or not said caller is saidemergency-dispatch requesting right holder by comparing said telephonenumber stored in said emergency-dispatch requesting right holder storagemeans with a telephone number output from said caller-number identifyingmeans, when said caller is said emergency-dispatch requesting rightholder and calling from said caller matches with a preset pattern, it isassumed that an emergency has occurred and said monitored person iswarned of that emergency via said dispatch notifying means, and whensaid safety confirmation input is not detected within a certain timesince warning made by said dispatch notifying means, said messagedispatching means dispatches an emergency message to said communicationdevice at said contact address.
 13. The emergency dispatching systemaccording to claim 1, characterized in that a plurality of messagesassociated with outputs of individual sensors are stored in said messagestorage means in advance, and said message dispatching means dispatchesa message corresponding to that sensor output which has become a basisfor judgment of an occurrence of an emergency by said safety judgingmeans to said communication device at said contact address.
 14. Theemergency dispatching system according to claim 1, characterized bycomprising: caller-number identifying means for identifying a telephonenumber of a caller when a call is made to said communication device onsaid monitored person side; and emergency-dispatch requesting rightholder storage means where a telephone number of a person who has beenauthorized beforehand as an emergency-dispatch requesting right holderis stored, and in that said safety judging means judges whether or notsaid caller is said emergency-dispatch requesting right holder bycomparing said telephone number stored in said emergency-dispatchrequesting right holder storage means with a telephone number outputfrom said caller-number identifying means, when said caller is saidemergency-dispatch requesting right holder and calling from said callermatches with a preset pattern, it is assumed that an emergency hasoccurred and said monitored person is warned of that emergency via saiddispatch notifying means, and when said safety confirmation input is notdetected within a certain time since warning made by said dispatchnotifying means, said message dispatching means dispatches an emergencymessage to said communication device at said contact address.
 15. Theemergency dispatching system said having a radio telephone on amonitored person side which is connectable to a communication line, andat least one sensor for sensing a vital reaction of a monitored personor an external danger thereof, characterized in that said radiotelephone comprises: contact address storage means where at least onetelephone number to contact in case of emergency is stored; messagestorage means where at least one message to be sent in case of emergencyis stored; safety judging means for judging a safety of said monitoredperson based on a output of said sensor; dispatch notifying means forwarming said monitored person of an emergency when it is assumed by saidsafety judging means that said emergency has occurred; automatic dialingmeans for generating a dialing signal corresponding to a telephonenumber of the contact address, thereby establishing a call to acommunication device at said contact address, in case where a safetyconfirmation input is not detected within a certain time since warmingmade by said dispatch notifying meaus; and message dispatching means forsending an emergency message stored in said storage means to saidcommunication device at said contact address after establishment of acommunication line with said communication device at said contactaddress; and said sensor is connected to said safety judging means by acable or wirelessly.
 16. An emergency dispatching system according toclaim 15, characterized in that said radio telephone haspresent-position identifying means for identifying a present position ofsaid radio telephone, and present position information output from saidpresent-position identifying means is dispatched to said communicationdevice at said contact address at a time of the emergency dispatching.17. The emergency dispatching system according to claim 16,characterized by comprising temporal condition storage means in which avalid time zone for said sensor is set beforehand, and in that saidsafety judging means judges a safety of said monitored person based onan output result from said sensor acquired during said valid time zone.18. The emergency dispatching system according to claim 17,characterized in that a safe interval in said valid time zone is set insaid temporal condition storage means, and said safety judging meansassumes an occurrence of an emergency in case where an output indicatinga vital reaction of said monitored person is not obtained during saidsafe interval.
 19. The emergency dispatching system according to claim15, characterized by comprising temporal condition storage means inwhich a valid time zone for said sensor is set beforehand, and in thatsaid safety judging means judges a safety of said monitored person basedon an output result from said sensor acquired during said valid timezone.
 20. The emergency dispatching system according to claim 19,characterized in that a safe interval in said valid time zone is set insaid temporal condition storage means, and said safety judging meansassumes an occurrence of an emergency in case where an output indicatinga vital reaction of said monitored person is not obtained during saidsafe interval.
 21. The emergency dispatching system according to claim19, characterized in that a plurality of messages associated withoutputs of individual sensors are stored in said message storage meansin advance, and said message dispatching means dispatches a messagecorresponding to that sensor output which bas become a basis forjudgment of an occurrence of an emergency by said safety judging meansto said communication device at said contact address.
 22. The emergencydispatching system according to claim 21, characterized by comprising:caller-number identifying means for identifying a telephone number of acaller when a call is made to said communication device on saidmonitored person side; and emergency-dispatch requesting right holderstorage means where a telephone number of a person who has beenauthorized beforehand as an emergency-dispatch requesting right holderis stored, and in that said safety judging means judges whether or notsaid caller is said emergency-dispatch requesting right holder bycomparing said telephone number stored in said emergency-dispatchrequesting right holder storage means with a telephone number outputfrom said caller-number identifying means, when said caller is saidemergency-dispatch requesting right holder and calling from said callermatches with a preset pattern, it is assumed that an emergency hasoccurred and said monitored person is warned of that emergency via saiddispatch notifying means, and when said safety confirmation input is notdetected within a certain time since warning made by said dispatchnotifying means, said message dispatching means dispatches an emergencymessage to said communication device at said contact address.
 23. Theemergency dispatching system according to claim 19, characterized bycomprising: caller-number identifying means for identifying a telephonenumber of a caller when a call is made to said communication device onsaid monitored person side; and emergency-dispatch requesting rightholder storage means where a telephone number of a person who has beenauthorized beforehand as an emergency-dispatch requesting right holderis stored, and in that said safety judging means judges whether or notsaid caller is said emergency-dispatch requesting right holder bycomparing said telephone number stored in said emergency-dispatchrequesting right holder storage means with a telephone number outputfront said caller-number identifying means, when said caller is saidemergency-dispatch requesting right holder and calling from said callermatches with a preset pattern, it is assumed that an emergency hasoccurred and said monitored person is warned of that emergency via saiddispatch notifying means, and when said safety confirmation input is notdetected within a certain time since warning made by said dispatchnotifying means, said message dispatching means dispatches an emergencymessage to said communication device at said contact address.
 24. Theemergency dispatching system according to claim 15, characterized inthat a plurality of messages associated with outputs of individualsensors are stored in said message storage means in advance, and saidmessage dispatching means dispatches a message corresponding to thatsensor output which has become a basis for judgment of an occurrence ofan emergency by said safety judging means to said communication deviceat said contact address.
 25. The emergency dispatching system accordingto claim 15, characterized by comprising: caller-number identifyingmeans for identifying a telephone number of a caller when a call is madeto said communication device on said monitored person side; andemergency-dispatch requesting right holder storage means where atelephone number of a person who has been authorized beforehand as anemergency-dispatch requesting right holder is stored, and in that saidsafety judging means judges whether or not said caller is saidemergency-dispatch requesting right holder by comparing said telephonenumber stored in said emergency-dispatch requesting right holder storagemeans with a telephone number output from said caller-number identifyingmeans, when said caller is said emergency-dispatch requesting rightholder and calling from said caller matches with a preset pattern, it isassumed that an emergency has occurred and said monitored person iswarned of that emergency via said dispatch notifying means, and whensaid safety confirmation input is not detected within a certain timesince warning made by said dispatch notifying means, said messagedispatching means dispatches an emergency message to said communicationdevice at said contact address.